Dark Shadows
by grimsgirl137
Summary: A blind prophetess comes to stay with the Kenshin crew.


Some Quick Info about the character:

Name: Shi-ra Shibiru (Blind Prophetess)(has no known last name)  
Age: 27  
Hair: Black  
Eyes: cloudy gray  
Clothes: Green kimono  
Weapons: Sword, throwing stars  
Extra: Walking stick  
Info: Shi-ra Shibiru has no family, her parents and other family members were all killed in the war. Her last name has been forgotten over time. Shi-ra Shibiru is blind, hence her name meaning blind prophetess. She has visions and that is where prophetess comes from. Her parents named her that when she was born blind, and she had a vision of their deaths and wouldnt stop crying for 3 weeks, although they did not officially know of her prophesies they knew she had to have had some vision of some kind that made her extremely sad, that was what the old wise man of her village said was the 'cause of her nonstop crying. Her visions come really weird to her, despite the blindness she can see the vision in her mind, although since she has never seen the people in her visions she does not know who it happens to be in her visions. Shi-ra Shibiru cannot control her visions, and most of the time they are of great sadness or death. She does whatever she can to prevent them, and sometimes they dont come true. When her parents and her other family memebers died when she was 12, Shi-ra Shibiru decided to not let helplessness decide her fate, so she began to learn to use a sword and throwing stars, aslong as her opponent made sound, she could pinpoint their location, and most of the time, she hit her target. Shi-ra Shibiru left her village at 15, and she has been wandering ever since.

Shi-ra Shibiru, sat under a tree curling a lock of her black hair, she could hear the voices of people haggling and prices being reduced, and bets being made. By the judge of that it seems, that it was market day. Shi-ra Shibiru jus sat and rested awhile, by the looks of her you wouldn't guess that she was blind. Her cloudy gray eyes were closed, but if you stared into those eyes you would know it, so when she sat down she just closed her eyes, when people find out she's blind they insist on people to follow her to make sure she was okay, or that they insisted on helping her do her shopping, or pick out her clothes. She liked to do all that herself thank you very much.

  
She sees herself walking along the market, she all of a sudden gets knocked down after running into a young man with red hair and a cross shaped scar on his cheek.  


Shi-ra Shibiru paused at a cart and pretended to look down at the fruit, she ran her hands along one of them and identified it as an apple, she carefully selected it and slipped it up her sleeve.  
"Can I help you miss?" she kept her eyes down when she answered,"No thank you..."  
When she knew she was out of sight of that cart she slipped the juicy apple out of her sleeve and bit into it.

She felt a slight impact and was threw backwards, her vision had come true. A sharp pain flew up her wrist and she was going to use her walking stick to pull herself up, but before she could, she felt a hand enclose over her unhurt hand and helped her up. She kept her eyes trained to the ground. "Im sorry I didn't mean to knock you down, are you hurt?"  
She began to nod and felt better of it and quickly shook her head, but she knew he knew he hurt her wrist. He picked up her walking stick and handed it to her.

She gingerly moved her wrist and pain shot up through her arm. She guessed it was sprained.  
"Here, to show my sorriness for hurting your wrist,"she felt his eyes on her wrist,"why dont I take you back to my dojo and treat you to dinner. My guest."  
"I-I guess that would be alright."

  
Shi-ra Shibiru was led into the dojo and was introduced to Yahiko, Kaoru, and Sanoske. The man you met in the market place introduced himself as Kenshin.  
You were too embarrassed to say your name. But they didn't press you, when you said that you couldn't. You never made eye contact with any of them. A little before dinner you let Kaoru bind your wrist.

  
Shi-ra Shibiru had just had dinner and you decided to finally tell them her name. "Please gather round,"she said quietly. Then she lifted her head so that they could gaze upon your eyes.No one began to fuss over your blindness. "My name,"she said confidently."Is Shi-ra Shibiru."

"Blind prophetess,"Shi-ra Shibiru heard Kaoru say quietly.

Shi-ra Shibiru felt ready for the impact of offers to help, or insistances upon being followed, however none came. She was surprised, thoroughly.  
"Can you use that sword?" You heard Yahiko ask you.  
"Yes," you said confidently, " the question is, can you use a sword?"  
"I sure can!" he sounded hurt as if his pride was blunted by her question.  
"Lets spar then...you can use a wooden sword, and Ill use my staff, so you dont get hurt."  
"Okay!"and you heard him scurry off.

"Where did you learn?" Kaoru asks you.  
"I taught myself, I used to sit outside a dojo just listening to the swish of the blades, I could identify the movements by their sound."

After the spar (which you won) Kenshin asked you if he could spar you. You felt eyes on you. You nodded, and he said, that you would both use your real swords. You set down your staff drew your sword. "I was going easy on Yahiko, would you like me to fight to my full potential?"  
"I know I will Miss Shi-ra Shibiru."

You both go into a starting position. Then you heard the slight rustle of his garments as he moved past you. He was fast. But so are you. You both break into a run, charging eachother. Your swords clash witha metallic ring at impact. "Your fast Miss Shi-ra Shibiru."   
You both move back.  
After a few hours, you both are panting and you have gotten nowhere, but neither has Kenshin. Yahiko and Sanoske had long ago left for bed, and Kaoru had stepped off to make up a room for you.

"Obviously you are evenly matched."Said Kaoru entering the room again.

"Thats definitely a compliment seeing as though he used to be a big man. Mr. Batousi."  
"You are the Batousi!" you were surprised, then you're face was clouded with anger. You sheathed you sword and scrambled around the floor looking for your staff. Kenshin hands it to you and you whack him over the head with it.  
"I cant stay here tonight."you say quickly, then you leave the room.

You didn't get far before Kaoru caught up to you at the garden bench.   
"Is something wrong?" she asks you, making you sit on the bench.  
"Daichi was my brother..."  
"Daichi?" she asked puzzled.  
"It means great first son, in this case, great ONLY son. I was the only daughter. When my parents died in the war, he rebelled. He joined the rebels, he was a bad man, but with a kind heart towards me. Then the war start, the war with the batousi. My brother joined the war, the side the batousi was against." Your eyes filled with tears.  
"The batousi killed me brother, directly...the day I last saw him, he told me he loved me, and not to worry, he promised to survive, to come back to me. The batousi made him break his promise." You banged your fist on the bench. You then felt a hand on your shoulder.  
"Kenshin isn't the Batousi any more, he's vowed never to kill again."

"I still cant do this."  
You get up and dash off to the growing protests of Kaoru.  
  
You see a burning building, you see Kenshin outside looking worried.

  
You're guessing its the dojo, seeing as though you dont know when the visions going to happen, you rush back to the dojo.

You get within a half mile radius of the dojo, and the smell of smoke burns your lungs. You feel the heat of the fire, and you could hear the hungry crackle of its flames. Kenshin runs up to you, guessing by his happiness and unwariness to come to you, Kaoru didn't tell him why you ran off.

"Kenshin, where is Yahiko, Sanoske? Where is Kaoru!" you practically scream at him.  
"Th-there still in there, I couldn't find them."  
You rip a strip of cloth off your sleeve, you quickly run towards the pump, and wet it, then you tear it into two strips. You hand the other strip to Kenshin.  
"We are going back in there!"  
You discard your staff (its wood and metal, not good in a fire) and you pull Kenshin into the burning building with you. You both use the wet strips as ventilation. Kenshin is holding your hand as he leads you to Sano's room.

You hide a slight smile, his grip was strong but gentle. Kind of like him, now that you think of it. You dont find any of them in any of the rooms. Your eye lids began to feel heavy and your cloth wasn't good for ventilation much longer. You began to wheeze.

"Kenshin,"you wheeze,"we have to get out, they are not he-"you collapse before you finish.

You slowly open your eyes, but of course you do not see anything. You find however by the smell of the smoke and the crackling, that you were still in the burning dojo. You weakly get up, but you hear no welcome rustle of Kenshin's robes. You grope around for your staff(before you remember that you didnt bring it in with you), and your fingers close around a piece of cloth. It was the outfit that Kenshin was wearing. You quickly scramble to find his head, but when you feel the face, it was of a young boy, "Yahiko,"you hissed, trying to wake him.  
"Huh, what?"  
"Get out of here!"  
Yahiko helps you up and you both run quickly through the rooms, although there is no sign of Kenshi, Sano, or Kaoru.  
"Gosh, I hope there alright,"you say as Yahiko leads you into semi fresh air (their is smoke in the air.). You hear shouts and hisses as people attempted to douse the dojo. You feel a familiar hand on your shoulder.  
"Kaoru?"

"Im here,"  
"Sano, kenshin?" you ask.  
"Shhh, rest first, you inhaled alot of smoke."  
Then you let yourself fall into the darkness.

"What happened?"you ask, removing your oxygen mask.  
"Well after you collapsed they came back in to get us and, well you know, they carried me out first, but Yahiko collapsed when he went back in for you and we ended up getting barred. Sorry Miss Shi-ra Shibiru..."Kenshin offered. You fall into a deep slumber.

Shi-ra Shibiru woke up again to the sound of birds. She still had the oxygen mask, but she was feeling alot better.  
"Oh, your awake."came Kaoru's voice.  
You move the mask so you can talk to her.  
"Im sorry Miss Kaoru its all my fault. If I hadn't run off the fire wouldn't have started."  
"Its not your fault at all!"she said in a surprised voice. "You see, it was on purpose, someone threw a lit torch into the dojo. Kenshin has alot of enemies."  
You smile a tiny bit, and you put your mask back on.

Vision  
You hear the sounds of swords clashing and the shouts of people, You see Kenshin and yourself and Kaoru was tied up to a pole.

You gasp behind your mask but Kaoru doesn't notice.

(a little note)  
Okay Shi-ra Shibiru inhaled alot of smoke, so she developed like asthma or something, and she can't talk that long. But now she's out of the hospital and they think her little breathing condition thingy is temporary, so yeah.

Shi-ra Shibiru was sitting out in the dojo garden getting some fresh air. She felt someone come up behind her and put their hand on their shoulder. But she couldn't quite tell who they were until they spoke. Which they didn't for along time.

"Kaoru told me about your brother, Daichi,"It was kenshin,"Miss Shi-ra Shibiru, I would just like to tell you that Im sorry, and to explain that I hadn't Killed Daichi, I seriously wounded him, he could have died from the wounds, but I did not kill him outright." Shi-ra Shibiru stiffened.  
"So he could still be alive."  
"Thats what Im thinking." Then Kenshin left Shi-ra Shibiru alone to think. And she did.

Shi-ra got up alittle bit later, and she went to her room, she layed down and thought some more.  
"Shi-ra Shibiru? Are you hungry? Its time to eat if you are." Shi-ra nodded at Sano's announecement, then she grabbed her staff and headed for the table. She chose a seat between Kenshin and Kaoru. Her mind was semi-relaxed, and she didn't really feel much hatred for Kenshin anymore. Now another matter in her mind as posed: Was her brother dead or Alive?

Shi-ra Shibiru finished her dinner and got up carefully.  
"Where are you going Miss Shi-ra Shibiru?"  
"Out,"she replied, then she walked out the door. She grabbed her sword from her room, and left a handsign of blood. Then she left the dojo.

Shi-ra Shibiru was sitting on a bench under a tree. Then she hears a commotion.  
"Excuse me, what's going on?" she asked of the footsteps going past. They stopped.  
"Nothing that such a docile girl like you should see."came the voice of a spry old man.  
"Where's it at?"  
"Uh, Miss Kaoru's dojo."  
"You kidding me?"  
"Uh...no."  
Shi-ra Shibiru grabbed her staff and dashed back the way she came back to the dojo. She heard sword on sword. A fight.  
"AH! Daichi." She recognized his smell, he smelled of burning wood and peppermint spry's. It was the last thing she smelled before he disappeared, it was his smell.  
"Sis?"Daichi spotted her.  
"Daichi, what are you doing here?"  
"I have a score to settle with the battousi."  
Daichi left her with her mouth open and ran off the sound of clashing swords were heard once again.  
Shi-ra Shibiru could'nt stand it any longer. She grabbed her sword and jumped in. She swung at Daichi mercilessly.  
"Sister, what are you doing?" He asked between dodges.  
"There are no scores to settle here."  
She continued to swing, until it wasn't metal she heard, but the groans of Daichi.  
"Where is Kaoru?"  
"She's tied to a pole, Miss Shi-ra Shibiru we can't get the bindings."  
"Shi-ra Shibiru! What are you doing to me! We're siblings, Im the only family you have, why throw it away?"  
"Because you're not the Daichi I know, your evil."  
Shi-ra Shibiru swung her sword...

Shi-ra Shibiru swung her sword, just as Daichi swung his. They both hit their targets. Daichi lay down dead, while Shi-ra Shibiru pulled the sword out of her stomach. She gasped as Kenshin, and the now freed Kaoru(Kenshin cut the ropes) ran to her. Kenshin supported her against his chest.  
"I'm sorry Kenshin. I wasnt fast enough. I...Love...You..."  
Shi-ra Shibiru collapsed and Kaoru began to cry.  
"She's got a pulse Miss Kaoru." Kenshin told her bravely. Kaoru and kenshin hurred her inside and fetched the doctor.  
"Im sorry,"the doctor said,"This wound is fatal, even with treatment she wont survive, I think its best that you just make her as comfortable as possible."

Kenshin's POV  
"Miss Kaoru are we going to have a funeral?"his voice was shaky.  
"Of course." Her voice was shaky too.

FUNERAL  
"She was an amazing woman, and she made our lives something special. Atleast she died with honor."

They put Shi-ra Shibiru in a boat and cast it onto the lake. They all turned away after saying their last goodbyes.


End file.
